My Not so Secret Life
by GRITS girls raised in south
Summary: A tragedy occurs during Rachel's freshman year at McKinley. A little over a year later she's dating Noah and then 2 months after they begin dating he finds out her secret; he supports her anyway. But when the Glee club accidently finds out that same secret during their junior year will they support or abandon her? And then a second tragedy strikes leaving Rachel broken yet again.
1. Rachel's Secret

**AN: With the permission of BellaRose55 I took the basic plot line from her story **_**Turning Tables **_**and changed it from Finchel to Puckleberry. You guys should go check it out. I'll admit I'm not a fan of Finchel, really at all, but her story is absolutely amazing. It is the first and only Finchel story I have ever read. I actually like Finn and Rachel together in her story. But Puckleberry is still who I ship.**

Rachel POV:

Let me start out by saying there is a part of everyone that they keep hidden because they're afraid that if people found out then they would be ridiculed and have no friends. Well the same it true for me except that there are 5 people who know my secret and 2 of those people found out only a year ago. Anyway my secret really would destroy the already fragile friendships that I have with the Glee club. The only the people who know it are my dads (of course they won't judge me), my boyfriend Noah Puckerman who I've been dating for a year and half (he found out by mistake one afternoon), Noah's mom (was my nurse in the aftermath patient confidentiality is why Noah didn't know sooner), and Noah's sister (was with Noah one afternoon and found out by mistake).

What's my secret? Well don't be disgusted and no judging but I'm a teenage mother. How? I was raped by my exes best friend. Yes Jesse St. James' best friend raped me. All this happened right before I started high school 3 years ago so my son, Emmanuel, which means God is with us, is 2 years old. Jesse and I knew of each other from constantly competing against each other growing up and occasionally staring in the same plays but I didn't know until I dated Jesse when Manny was a baby that it was his best friend, Joseph McIntire, who raped me.

I never intended to date Jesse because I had Emmanuel, Manny for short, to look after and at the time I officially met Jesse he was only 2 weeks old and I was still trying to cope with the trauma and with being a new mom. But Jesse was just so charming and charismatic that after talking to him for a few hours in the music store and an impromptu performance I found myself agreeing to have coffee with him on Friday after school. Anyway we only dated for a few weeks because it was on one of our coffee dates that Jesse said something that made me run away and never look back.

He said "I have to go soon. I'm meeting up with Joseph. He really shouldn't be alone because he's having a hard time. A year ago he met this girl and they hit it off right away, spending hours talking and just hanging out. He never really got her name and she never got his but they ended up hooking up, well actually he said he had to force her to calm down and realize she wanted it but that's beside the point. Anyway afterwards she took off and didn't look back or even ask for his number or leave him her number and then he found out a few months after that through town gossip that she was pregnant with his kid but wouldn't say who the father was simply claiming that the experience of the child's conception was too tough for her to talk about. Those were her words by the way. Anyway he's tore up about it because to him that was a beautiful night and then she abandoned him and then refused to acknowledge he was the father to her unborn kid. Chick was psycho and heartless if you ask me." After hearing that I was numb on the inside because I finally had a name to go with my attacker but worse than that was the fact that I was sitting across the table from my attacker's best friend listening to this made up sob story my attacker had fed to his best friend, who believed that crap. I calmly told Jesse that if he felt that way then he needed to be there for his friend but that I couldn't be around him anymore because I felt like there was more to the story than what his friend was telling him and it could be incriminating and I refused to be anywhere remotely near that. Then I promptly left without a real goodbye or even a look back and the next day I had my dad's un-list our phone number and address and change my cell phone number.

About 3 months later Noah and I started dating and the rest is quite simple. About 2 months into dating Noah he came over unannounced to surprise me one afternoon. I'd had to cancel hanging out with him because Emmanuel was sick and my dad's were both busy at work but Noah didn't know about Manny so I'd told him I had too much to do at home. So anyway he came over to help me out with what I was so busy with and so we could hang out at the same time. Well my dad's mom, my savta, happened to have come by to visit me and bring me some dinner and Noah showed up as she was leaving and knowing who he was she let him in not knowing he had no idea about Emmanuel. Anyway at the time I was upstairs in Manny's nursery feeding him before heating up my food. When Noah couldn't find me downstairs he came upstairs and walked in just as I was turning around to put Manny on the changing table. Knowing that I didn't like for him to sneak up on me he knocked on the door to let me know he was there. When I turned around still holding Manny he was definitely surprised, to say the least. Anyway he helped me finish cleaning up Emmanuel and got him ready for bed while I ate, it was already 8 at night but I'd been busy with Manny practically all afternoon so this was the first chance I'd gotten to eat since lunch time, 8 hours ago, and since I was still breast feeding him some I needed to keep up with my meals and nutrition. Anyway once Noah got Manny down he came downstairs to talk to me. I explained everything, with a bunch of tears because even over a year later it was still hard to face. Anyway Noah wasn't happy I had been hiding this from him but at the same time he understood how hard it must be to know that I had a 8 month old son at 16 and he was the result of being raped at 14 and half years old. In the end because of everything Noah said he would support me and Manny because he couldn't imagine what it would be like to go through that and he couldn't be upset about it too much since I was in fact raped.

Anyway all that brings me to the first Glee club meeting of my junior year. As always I get there early, just like all my classes. But I don't get there that early for the reason everyone thinks, to be over-prepared and overbearing, no it's that I want to be warmed up but more so that I like to avoid being in crowds as much as possible. I HATE being in crowds because in a crowd there's no way for me to know whose who and where they are exactly so there's a possibility of Joseph being around and I just can't stand that idea. Usually Noah would come with me because I don't really like being alone either, in case Joseph did show up, but he had to meet with the new football coach, Shannon Beiste, about leaving practice early on Wednesday's, he picked Emmanuel up from daycare on Wednesday's so I can work at the Breadstix in Columbus for a few hours after school. Anyway I was sitting alone in the choir room after school on the first Monday of September waiting on Noah and Glee Club practice and just trying to stay calm. It was moments, like these, when I was all alone that I tended to freak out (even worse than when I was in public) because I could just picture Joseph sneaking up on me and raping me again and then proceeding to kidnap Manny from me. So anyway I was sitting there waiting on Noah and Glee Club trying to keep myself calm when the sudden and loud noise that always comes when Mercedes and Kurt, you'd think I'd be used to it but I'm not, are around startles me. I literally fall out of my chair and am trembling uncontrollably when they walk in to the choir room.

All it takes is one tiny whimper from me before they notice me and begin the ridicule. "What are you practicing to play Eponine in Les Mis or something diva? You really are pathetic always practicing and practicing your singing and acting but you never improve and you never seem to be in crowds so how do you expect to make it to New York and Broadway if you can't even be in hallways of a tiny high school in a small town in Ohio?" Kurt sneers as Mercedes just guffaws besides him and manages to add "So true Kurt. White girl can't dress either and you know how stars are supposed to be fashionable. She's demented and the worst part of it is that she actually believes she can sing better than us. Come on let's take our fabulousness away before her Rachel-ness rubs off on us."

Well by that point I'm full on sobbing because first of all I was subjected to a quick flashback of the night Joseph raped me and then Kurt and Mercedes' hurtful words cut me deeper than usual because normally they steer away from crushing my dreams and stick to ridiculing my clothes and my excessive need to sing, it calms me down to sing so I fight for every solo and duet I can, but not today. Over the next few minutes the rest of the Glee club trickles in by groups of two or three mostly, but a few like Sam, come in by themselves. Anyway it's when Mike walks in with Tina that someone finally comes over to me to see if everything is ok. Sam and Matt are a few minutes behind Mike and Tina and then they're also beside me. "Rach are you ok? It's me Mikey. I'm not going to hurt you I just want to make sure your ok." Mike says calmly and slowly approaches me. And no he doesn't know I was raped but being like a brother to me along with Matt and Sam they have some idea of how to act around me especially when I get like this. They also know that something happened between me and a guy that made me feel so uncomfortable in general but because I refuse to tell anyone outside of my therapist, doctor and those who already know they have no clue exactly what happened. "M-m-m-mi-ii-ik-k-k-k-ke-e-e-ey-y-y where are Matty and Sammy, and Noah? I really need Noah right now." I sob once I realize who is talking to me. "We're right here Rachey." Matt and Sam reply in unison before Matt continues "and Noah's on his way, Coach Bieste was running late to their meeting because of Sue. He'll be here in a few minutes. Just talk to us. We can't help you if we don't know what's wrong." "Yeah, Rach we're right here for you. Just please tell us what happened. We can go out in the hall way and you can whisper it to me, Matt and Mike if it helps you to feel more comfortable. We just want you to be happy and to never be upset like this EVER." Sam adds.

"Oh-k-k-ka-ay. Let's go in the hallway though please." I sniffle after a few seconds of trying to compose myself while Mike, Sam, and Matt slowly inch closer to me and then each of them slowly wrap me into a hug. We exit the choir room and walk across the hallway and down a few doors so that no one can eaves drop on us. We come to stop, unintentionally, beside mine and Noah's lockers and when I've finally composed myself enough to speak without stumbling over my words, at least not really because now I'm interrupted by a round of hiccups, I begin to tell the guys, who are like brothers to me, what upset me. Well I tell them a highly abridged version since they don't know about Manny and my rape. I basically tell them I was startled by Kurt and Mercedes so much I fell out of my chair and was scared, true just not the entire truth, and then once they realized I was there how they insulted me. I told them all of this in about a minute but they were fuming when I was done, because no one messes with their little sister and gets away with it. I may be hated around McKinley but between having Matt, Mike, and Sam as my brothers practically since coming here and Noah as a boyfriend I'm untouchable in terms of physical bullying but that doesn't stop the comments, pornographic pictures, cyber bullying, and remarks about the lifestyle of my fathers. Anyway it's just as they are saying what they are going to do to Kurt and Mercedes that Noah walks up to us asking what's going on. All it takes is for him to look at my tear stained face and still trembling body and listen to the remarks made by Sam, Matt and Mike about Kurt and Mercedes for him to roughly figure out what happened while he was in his meeting with Coach Bieste.

Noah quickly and gently wraps me up in his arms whispering to me that everything is going to be ok and how talented and beautiful I am for me to slowly stop the remaining tears and calm down enough to stop trembling. Mike, Matt, and Sam walk away, enough to give us some privacy but don't go back to the choir room yet, so Noah asks me exactly what happened and again I say what happened quickly only I tell Noah everything. When I'm done the tears are shining in my eyes again so Noah pulls me to him gently and kisses my hairline while he once again whispers how amazing I am and gently rubs my back. We spend maybe a minute like that before heading back to the choir room with Mike, Sam, and Matt. When we get to the door Noah whispers that everything will be ok but for me to go with Matt, the calmest of the guys, so I don't get scared by what he's about to say.

"BEYONCE. ARETHA. WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY TO MY GIRL JUST NOW? AND DON'T TELL ME NOTHING BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T ACT LIKE THAT OVER FUCKING NOTHING." Noah boomed out while Mike and Sam were cracking their knuckles and glaring at Kurt and Mercedes. "We didn't say anything. She just overreacted to a conversation Mercedes and I were having between us. I mean can't a person tell their friend when someone has committed a fashion crime? And Mercedes was simply lamenting the fact that Rachel ALWAYS get's the solo's and duets around here even though we're both much better singers." Kurt replied trying to act all nonchalant but anyone could see he was scared of what Puck, Sam and Mike might do to him, not to mention Matt when he got the chance. Noah scoffed audibly at Kurt but before he could say anything else Mr. Schue rushed in late as usual. "Ok guys let's get started... Wait why are Rachel and Matt standing by the door and why do Sam, Mike and Puck look like they could kill Mercedes and Kurt? GUYS what is going on here?" Mr. Schue admonishes after his usual greeting. "Rachel overreacted to a conversation Kurt and I were having earlier and her 4 little lap dogs are doing her dirty work as usual." Mercedes sneered. "THAT'S IT. I don't care if Aretha is a girl and Beyonce is feminine 'M getting 'em both. Schue they scared Rachel when they came in here, loud and obnoxious as usual no doubt, and then proceeded(get off his balls he uses big words now and again, it comes with dating Rachel) to insult her and belittle(again it comes from dating Rachel) her. Schue they always do things like this to her and I KNOW it get's to her, just like it would get to anyone, but you and EVERY OTHER teacher in this place just let it slide by because there's no physical violence. Well sometimes the emotional stuff is worse than getting hurt physically and if anyone is a trooper for putting up with this CRAP it's Rachel. It's about time someone DID something so if we have to teach them a lesson physically I damn well will because Rachel of all people deserves WAY BETTER than how these fuckers treat her here." Noah raged at the teacher. "Calm down Puck. And you better watch that language. Rachel is what Puck said really true?" Mr. Schue tried to be diplomatic about the situation but asking Rachel seemed to only anger Kurt and Mercedes more. "Ye-yea-yes. Mr. Ss-sch-ue ww-wh-ah-t N-no-ah sa-id w-wa-as t-tr-rue." Rachel was now crying again because what Noah said truly reminded her of how bad things were for at McKinley, even if she pretended it didn't get to her.

But before Mr. Schuester could even respond Mercedes and Kurt just had to open their mouths, again. "Oh PUH-lease. She's just looking to have all the attention. Getting all the solo's and duets isn't enough anymore. Now she has to turn the you against us too Mr. Schue. She's just a little attention whore." Mercedes scoffed while Kurt agreed. "THAT'S IT YOU TWO ARE GOING DOWN. RACHEL IS NOT AN ATTENTION WHORE. IF YOU KNEW EVEN HALF OF THE SHI..sorry CRAP SHE PUT UP WITH AND THE BAGGAGE SHE HAS TO CARRY AROUND THEN MAYBE JUST MAYBE YOU'D KNOW HOW SHE FEELS AND WHY SHE ACTS THE WAY SHE DOES." Noah raged. Matt, Mike and Sam even looked a little surprised at Noah saying this but agreed none the less. "GUYS ENOUGH! Mercedes, Kurt go to my office NOW. You two can NOT keep doing this to Rachel, but, obviously nothing will get figured out or fixed with you here upsetting Rachel and in effect Puck, Matt, Mike, and Sam. And Puck, Sam, Matt, and Mike you guys have GOT to calm down at least until we get this figured out. Glee's canceled since half of you guys can't be in the same room without craziness going on. Unless you're Mike, Puck, Matt, Sam, Rachel, Mercedes, or Kurt leave now. And Kurt and Mercedes go to my office NOW!" Mr. Schue was clearly exasperated at this latest development and he wasn't playing around either. Kurt and Mercedes shut up from their scoffing and walked calmly if a bit loudly, they mumbled to each other about how unfair it was the entire way there, out of the room and into Mr. Schue's office.

"Ohhhh-kayyyy!" Mr. Schue breathed out as they left the room and Puck, Mike, Sam and Matt all immediately deflated and calmed down. All four boys also turned their full attention to Rachel who was once again shaking and crying. "Schue I know you wanna get this shi-tuff figured out today but can you like give us a little bit of time first? Rach is upset and she won't be able to talk to you clearly if she's upset. You can even go talk to loud and louder first if you want. Actually talking to them first might be best for everyone involved 'cause we can calm down ourselves and Rach and they won't feel like you're, as they would probably put it, 'automatically' siding with us. Please Schue I think that would be best for all involved. Maybe even take a few minutes to yourself out in the hallway where the terrible two can see you and that you're taking some time to yourself before figuring this situation out." Noah said. "I will definitely give you guys time to calm down Rachel and cool off yourselves first for sure. And you know that whole plan's actually a pretty good idea Puck. I'll be in the hallway if you guys need me." Mr. Schue responded sounding somewhat surprised at Puck's suggestion being a good one.

Once Mr. Schue was cooling off himself Puck walked over to Rachel and wrapped her in his strong arms before guiding her over to chair on the risers where he say down pulling her into his lap. He rubbed her back and arms gently while whispering sweet assurances into her ear. He even occasionally kissed her hairline or neck with just as much gentleness as if she were a baby. After about 5 minutes of this Rachel was calm again which allowed the guys to calm down as well; they were like Rachel's guard dogs in that way, if she was upset or distressed they were ready to hurt whoever or whatever was causing her to feel that way (especially Sam and Puck). It was only once both Rachel and the guys had calmed down, about 10 minutes after Schue left that they noticed him re-entering the choir room and head towards his office, presumably to talk with Kurt and Mercedes.

While Mr. Schue was busy with Kurt and Mercedes Rachel idly plucked at the piano and eventually began playing "You are my Sunshine" and singing along quietly which is what really began to relax her, at least until her phone rang. That was when the real issue came up.

"Rachel I'm sorry to do this but your dads and Debbie are at work, both your sets of grandparents are on vacation and I don't feel comfortable leaving him with Arin all by themselves. But my mom's in the hospital and I have to go sign some paper for surgery or something, I don't know all I heard when the EMT's called was bad-wreck, not her fault, unconscious, and critical condition from what they could tell. I didn't know what else to do." Manny's baby sitter, Amelia sobbed over the phone to Rachel. "No, no, no that's not your fault. I'm glad you called me. Look I'm caught up at school with Noah for right now but send him and Arin across the street to Miss Baker's until we can come get them. Hopefully we'll be home with dinner and 2 hours tops. You go be with your mom, that's important." Rachel stated calmly while actually panicking on the inside. In the two years since she'd had Manny he had never been without her, Noah, one of her dad's, or Amelia there; yes he's been around Arin and Miss Baker before but not without one of above mentioned people there so he felt comfortable. Oh well there wasn't much she could do now.

"Noah can you go see what's taking Mr. Schue so long with Kurt and Mercedes we really need to leave as soon as possible." Rachel pleaded with her boyfriend. "Sure baby but what's wrong you seem worried? It's not something to do with Kurt and Mercedes and that whole situation is it?" Noah asked worried. "No it's not that. It's just we NEED to get home soon. The reason we have to leave as soon as possible is what that phone call was just about." She responded trying to not let Sam, Matt, and Mike know too much, they would ask questions and she didn't have time to answer them right now or anytime today really. "Ok baby but I need to know what's bothering you." Noah replied. "It's just that Amelia has to leave because her mom is in the hospital from a bad wreck. Arin can't lo-, I mean stay by herself, so I told Amelia to send her over to Miss Baker and we'd be there as soon as possible but I don't know who long Miss Baker is staying home this afternoon and I HATE relying on other people Noah." Rachel responded once again upset. "Ok, ok, Rach I'll knock on the office door but really I'm sure that since Amelia explained and dropped them off there that Miss Baker will stay home for as long as we need her to. She's good like that Rach and she's told us before that she's more than willing to help out any time we need her to." Noah said while rubbing calming circles on Rachel's back once again.

**AN: I'm back. This semester of college kicked my butt. I had some assignment due, some paper to write, some reading to do for class, or something to do for my chemistry lab every time I turned around. Then when I wasn't doing school work I was having some sort of social life or trying to get at least a somewhat decent amount of sleep. When I wasn't doing one of those three things I was working on this chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it. Also I have to say once again that after reading BellaRose55's story **_**Turning Tables**_** I was inspired to write this. I wrote this after having PMed her to be sure she was ok with my taking her basic plot line and switching it to a Puckleberry story. This is what came of that. I encourage all my readers to check out her story because it is the one and only Finchel story I keep up with and read. She made me love Finchel in her story even though I don't like them on show. Of course even with her amazing writing skills I still ship Puckleberry. Enjoy and leave a review for me.**


	2. The Secret is Revealed part 1

**AN: So I know this is a little late BUT I've been busy. My sister's high school graduation is coming up on Friday (June 7) and her Baccaulaureate was this past Sunday (June 2). So we've been doing all the graduation stuff; senior awards day, shopping for graduation gifts, attending the events(baccaulaureate and senior awards day so far), etc.. One of my friends got married a week after graduation (June 15) and I was one of her bridesmaid so the week after graduation was spent helping her set up for the wedding and then the actual wedding. Also the Monday after the wedding (June 17) I had knee surgery so I've been out of sorts with that for a while. I'll be out of commission for the next 5 weeks or so because of the knee surgery. So with all that I've been really busy the month of June but with all the time I'll have these next 5 weeks or so I'll try to update this and my other two stories TBGTBATHBIC and WTF as often as possible.**

After their meeting with Mr. Schue Rachel and Noah picked up some pizza, a small vegetable for Rachel since she quit being vegan while she was pregnant; and a large pepperoni, ham, sausage, green pepper, red pepper, and onion for Noah, Arin, and Rachel's dads plus a personal cheese pizza for Manny. After getting the pizza they rushed to Miss Bakers house, per Rachel's request, to pick up Manny and Arin who were fine despite Rachel's worries of Manny being confused and upset. After picking up Manny and Arin Rachel and Noah drove back to Rachel's house where Arin and Rachel did their homework, well mostly it was Rachel helping Arin with her homework, while Noah and Manny played racecars until Rachel's dad's got home at 6pm.

"Hey Star. Daddy and I are home. I saw Noah's truck in the driveway are he and Arin staying for dinner?" Rachel's dad called as he entered the house from the garage. "Hey Dad. Daddy. Yes Noah and Arin are staying for dinner. We picked up some pizza on the way home from school. I just started heating it up in the oven. It'll be ready in about 15 minutes since we put it in the fridge when we got home. So if you want to clean up and change from work it should be ready when you guys are done." Rachel called back. After kissing both of her dad's hello and they left to change from work Rachel asked Arin to clean up her homework and go wash her hands before tracking down Noah and Manny in the den.

When Rachel walked into the den she saw Manny running around "the racetrack" in what he told her was " 'tory lap momma. Like the 'ASCAR guys do." Rachel laughed at the silliness of her son and boyfriend before responding "good for you little man but the pizza's almost ready so how about you and Noah go clean up and meet me, Arin, grand poppa, and granddad in the kitchen in about 5 minutes?" Rachel asked her son and tickled his belly before turning him over to Noah and turning to head back into the kitchen to remove the pizza from the oven and set the table.

Just as Rachel was done setting the table and had gotten herself and Manny drinks Noah, Manny and Arin reappeared in the kitchen. As Noah and Arin were getting drinks for themselves Rachel picked up Manny and was about to put him into his booster seat when the door bell rang. Rachel carried Manny to the door and set him down before opening the door to find Matt, Mike and Sam. "Oh hello boys. I didn't expect to see you all here. It certainly is a surprise to say the least." Rachel said trying to hide her nervousness at them being at her house unannounced. "Oh we just wanted to see if you were ok. You seemed pretty upset about what Kurt and Mercedes said and you seemed weirdly in a hurry to get home after that phone call this afternoon." Sam replied. "Oh that. Yeah I was pretty upset by they said but it was more that how they acted towards me caused me to have some flashbacks of an extremely rough time in my life and well that was a hard pill to swallow, so to speak. And that phone call just sort of freaked me out because what I was told was surprising but unavoidable." Rachel responded with a hesitant smile to reassure the boys. Before any of them could respond though Manny tugged on Rachel's pants leg saying, "Momma, how you know them?" while he hid behind her leg still and only peeked around her with one eye. "Umm Rach... whose the kid and why'd he call you Momma?" Matt asked what all three guys were thinking. Before answering him Rachel ushered Manny around to stand beside her, where he latched onto her legs, and bent down to talk to him. "Hey buddy. You don't have to be scared. These are some of mine and Noah's friends from school. They just wanted to make sure I was ok after the phone call from Amelia today, I freaked out a little bit because I didn't know how you would handle having to stay with someone you didn't know very well. But you were a big boy and handled it very well so I had no reason to worry any way, right big man?" Rachel told him and then picked him up after he nodded in response. "Guys this is my son Emmanuel Amos Berry, but we call him Manny unless he's in trouble. Manny this is Matt, Mike, and Sam." Rachel introduced the four pointing to each boy in turn. "He's adorable Rach but since when do you have a kid. He looks no older than 2 or 3 but no one at school, well apparently other that Puck, knows about this. I just don't see how you hid this for so long." Mike says. "Look guys I can't do this here and now, not with Manny listening because it's a hard story to tell and I don't want him to have to hear that." Rachel responded. "Ok Rach. But I feel like we deserve to know." Sam said. "Thanks for understanding you guys. And, please come in. We're having pizza and there should be enough and if not we could always call more in. We got a large pepperoni, ham, sausage, green pepper, red pepper, and onion for my dads, Noah and Arin along with a medium vegetable pizza for me. Although Noah, Daddy, and I could share mine if we have to, as there's normally enough left for at least 1 or 2 people and I'm not real hungry tonight. Then Dad, Arin, and you guys can share the large. We also other food I can fix real quick if you want." Rachel invited the boys. "Sounds good. Thanks Rach." Matt said while Mike and Sam nodded along with him.

After that conversation Rachel allowed the three boys to enter the house before closing the door and leading them into the kitchen where Noah, Arin, and her dads were just sitting down, surprisingly enough. She walked in first saying, "Looks like we'll have a few more joining us tonight. Matthew, Michael, and Samuel came by to make sure I was alright after a rough afternoon in Glee. It's really rather sweet of them, even if Manny was a surprise to them." To which Noah wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave them a squeeze while her daddy said "Welcome boys. The more the merrier. And thank you boys for caring so much about our star. Things haven't been exactly easy on her at McKinley even with Noah looking out for and after her." Matt was the first to respond saying, "It's no big deal. We think of Rach as a sister so of course we wanted to make sure she was alright. And thank you for inviting us Rach. And thank you Mr. Berry and Mr. Berry for the pizza." Mike and Sam again nodded along with him and said a thanks of their own.

With the edition of Matt, Mike, and Sam there weren't enough chairs at the kitchen table to Rachel suggested that they move into the dining room. At the agreement of the others, excluding Manny who didn't really know what she meant, they moved into the dining room. After that was decided Rachel grabbed Manny's pizza which she put on his plate and his sippy cup before settling him into a seat in the dinning room then returning to the kitchen to retrieve some pizza for her and her drink. Noah balanced his plate on top of his drink and then wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and gently guided her into the dinning room where she sat down putting Manny on her lap and Noah sat beside her. Her dad and daddy sat at opposite ends of the table, as the heads of the table, while Arin was beside Noah and the other three guys sat on the opposite side of the table from Arin, Noah and Rachel. While they were eating their pizza there was light conversation about what Arin's school day and how the football team was expected to do this year. After finishing all the pizza Rachel and Arin cleared, washed and dried all the dishes. Once that was done Rachel allowed Arin to make some brownies, with Noah's supervision of course since she was only 11 years old after all, while she bathed Manny and got him ready for bed. After reading Manny a bed time story and tucking him in she went back down stairs with the baby monitor, to make sure he didn't wake up and need her. Once downstairs Rachel checked on the brownies, which Arin had in the oven before returning to the den where Noah, Arin, her dads, Matt, Mike, and Sam were. "Arin why don't you go in the kitchen to finish your homework and keep an eye on the brownies. Call me or Noah if you need help and when the brownies are done and we'll help you get them out of the oven." Rachel said because she didn't want Arin to hear what she knew Matt, Mike, and Sam wanted to know. "Ok but I don't see why I can't do my homework in here, it's not like you didn't just check on them and it's not like you can't here the oven timer in here." Arin pouted. "Well we have some stuff to talk about that's more along the lines of grown-up conversation and I don't think it's a good idea for you to hear." Rachel responded trying to be as truthful and tactful as possible. "Rachel's right squirt. Just go in the kitchen. We'll probably have this conversation with you at some point in years to come anyway." Noah told Arin when she started pouting at what Rachel told her. "Ok. Fine but I don't like it. " Arin replied before grabbing her book bag and dragging it behind her into the kitchen.

Once sure that Arin was in the kitchen Rachel sat down as close to Noah as possible, grabbed his hand and took a deep breathe before starting. "Ok so obviously you know I have a son and you probably noticed that I introduced him as having my last name. That plus the fact that Noah and I didn't start dating until Manny was already 6 months old means that Manny isn't his. So your probably wondering whose Manny's dad and why I was pregnant my freshman year of high school." Rachel started out. "Yeah. I was wondering why he had your last name and not Puck's. I thought that because I admit that I thought he was Puck's." Matt said. "Not biologically. I mean Noah thinks of him as his son but biologically he has a different dad. April of my 8th grade year I was at this coffee shop in Columbus, we were visiting my Bubbe and Zadie for Passover, just studying while I waiting on Dad and Daddy to finish their shopping in the mall across the street, when this guy walked up to me. His name was Joseph McIntire, I later found out, and he was a freshman at Carmel. Anyway he seemed really sweet and we talked for a while and seemed to really hit things off but then I decided to go get a few more things last minute and that's when things went down hill. I tried to get rid of him but he wouldn't let me leave. I tried to trick him into leaving me but that didn't work either so I was stuck until my dads came and got me. But even when I realized that there was no way for me to get rid of this guy I never really thought he could do something to hurt me. Well he sort of dragged me out behind the coffee shop and he-he-he r-ra-raped me. After he was done Joseph just walked away like he hadn't just committed a crime. I called my dads crying and they found me laying on the ground sobbing and nearly on the verge of a panic attack with my clothes ripped and blood running down my inner thighs. They didn't ask any questions, just wrapped me in a blanket that Daddy insists on keeping in the car and rushed me to the ER in Mount Carmel East Hospital, it normally takes 12 minutes but with Dad driving it only took us half that. When we got there my nurse was Noah's mom, she took care of me and even later on I kept on going back to Mount Carmel East Hospital for all the physical care that came with being raped. I found out the day of 8th grade graduation that I was p-pr-preg-pregnant with Manny. I spent most of summer crying and depressed and my dads made me start going to see my therapist because I refused to have an abortion. See back then I was vegan and couldn't stand the thought of killing a poor innocent animal just to eat it so how could I possibly kill something that was part me, no matter how it was conceived? I couldn't do it because as much as I was hurting emotionally from how he was conceived it would've hurt worse to essentially kill a part of me. I don't care what the doctors say I consider abortion to be a form of killing and I couldn't in good conscious do that. I may be liberal in most of my political views but abortion is one thing I have a very conservative view on. Anyway when I found out I was pregnant I was already 2 months pregnant so when school started back in August I was almost 5 months pregnant. Anyway Manny was born early, on December 27th, but he wasn't due until January 5th. The only people I had with me in the birthing room were Daddy, the doctor, Noah's mom and my nurses; see I wanted Noah's mom to be one of my nurses but she was off for a few days vacation at the time I went into labor in the middle of night on December 26th but I called her anyway and she came to be with me while I gave birth. Dad wasn't in the room because he get queasy about stuff like blood and bodily fluids so he just waited in the waiting room. Anyway Noah didn't have any idea about Manny because his mom never told him because of a confidentiality thing between patients and medical personnel." Rachel started explaining.

"I know I told you Joseph's name but at the time he raped me I didn't know his name. I saw on his jacket, I think he was a member of Vocal Adrenaline and he was wearing their warm-up jacket, that his last name was McIntire but I didn't know his first name until later on. When Manny was 8 days old we were back in Columbus for his brit milah, or bris, which is the ceremony in which Jewish baby boys are circumsized. Anyway after the ceremony my dads' took Manny back to my Zadie and Bubbe's while I went to the music store to check out some sheet music and stuff and I meet Jesse St. James there. We shared an impromptu duet and that's all I intended for it to be but since we were in the middle of exams which I had already finished mine and semester break was coming up we stayed in Columbus for a the next week and half meaning I kept running into Jesses around town. Anyway he was so charismatic and charming that by the time Manny was about 2 weeks old he'd convinced me to give us a chance so we started dating. Jesse never knew about Manny because we only dated for maybe a month and I spent most of that time here while Jesse spent most of it in Columbus but we did go on a few dates. But that's not the point it was during one of our dates that Jesse inadvertently revealed that he knew my rapist and he even mentioned him by name. I broke up with him immediately after he revealed that piece of information and then had my dad's change and unlist our home number effective immediately, and change my cell phone number. Seeing as Jesse only ever contacted me on my cell phone and the few dates we did go on were in Columbus and I would take a train there and Jesse would pick me up from the train station he didn't know where we lived but I didn't want to take any chances. When I say we only dated for a few weeks that's really how few dates we went on but really we were together until Manny When I say we only dated for a few weeks that's really how few dates we went on but really we were together until Manny was about 3 months old." Rachel continued on.

"Noah and I started dating about 3 months after I dumped Jesse on his ass. At first he didn't know about Manny either. But then as sophomore year started we'd been dating about 2 months when he found out by accident. I mean I never intended for Manny to be like some sort of dirty secret or anything BUT I did want to be sure that any guy I did date would be around for a while before introducing him to Manny because I couldn't have my relationship-s affecting my baby boy; he needed someone who would be a dad like figure for him but he also needed that person in life steadily and not here one minute and gone the next and then a few months or years later someone new fulfilling that role. Anyway I was home because Manny was sick and my both of my dads' had to work and his normal baby sitter had the day off since it was a Saturday. Anyway Noah and I had had plans to hang out but with Manny being sick I told him that I had too many things to do at home to hang out. Well Noah decided he would surprise me but since he had to watch Arin he brought her over as well. My dad's mom, my Savta, was visiting and helping me out but she had to leave when Noah got there and she knew who he was from me showing her pictures and such so she let him not knowing that he didn't know about Manny. Anyway when Noah couldn't find me downstairs he headed upstairs to find me. I was just turning around to put Manny on the changing table when Noah walked in on me and Arin was right behind him. Needless to say they were pretty surprised. I quickly explained to Arin that something very bad happened and that because of that very bad thing Manny is my son. Of course I gave Noah the whole story but without Arin listening in. Of course he was upset that I'd been keeping something so important from him but at the same time he understood and of course he promised he'd be there for me and Manny or he wouldn't be sitting here still today after a year and a half of dating. So until you three showed up at my door earlier the only people who knew were my dads'(well my entire family), Noah, Arin, and their mom." Rachel finished up as a few stray tears fell silently down her face.

"Oh Rachel. I had no idea. How could you have not told us this before? How did you deal that essentially by yourself during freshman year? And how come no one noticed you were pregnant?" Matt asked. "No one at school had any idea until Noah found out. I didn't want anyone to treat me any different, like I was made of porcelain or something. It was hard but with the help of my dads' and my therapist I made it through somehow and then once Noah and I started dating it got a lot easier. I didn't get very big so I mostly hid it with baggy clothes and I tried to stay invisible as much as possible." Rachel responded. "Rach you should know that me, Matt, and Sam wouldn't treat you any different. At least not treat you like porcelain. We would've, and do, admire-d how much strength you have to go through something like that. And I'm sure almost everyone else in Glee would be the same, there's no accounting for how Mercedes and Kurt would react but the rest of us are your friends." Mike said.

After that they invited Arin back into the den and ate some brownies while watching a James Bond movie, one of the ones with Pierce Brosnan because those were the only ones that both Rachel and Noah would watch. Anyway once the movie was over Sam, Mike, and Matt left. Then Arin and Noah left about 15 minutes after the three guys leaving just Rachel, her dads', and a sleeping Manny.

Before heading to bed herself Rachel explained to her dads' what Amelia called her about earlier that day. Her daddy was a doctor at Lima General and had the next day off, he just had to be ready to go in if he was called, so he promised to watch Manny for Rachel since he hardly ever got called in on his days off. So with that conversation behind them Rachel checked on Manny one last time before taking a quick shower and then getting in bed since the little homework she had was done before they ate.

**AN 2: So I know this is like WAY later than I planned to update but I had a lot happening and didn't have time to write until this last week or so. Hope you guys enjoy. Please leave a review and I hope that this chapter will answer any questions you may have had from chapter 1. I plan on having the rest of the glee club find out in the next chapter. **

**AN 3: The plan is to update this within the next 2 or 3 weeks depending on how fast I can update my other 2 stories 'Whose the Father' and 'The Broadway Geek, The Badass, and The HBIC'. So please check those 2 out after you get done here and please also leave me a review there.**


	3. The Secret is Revealed part 2

**AN: My thoughts and prayers are still going out to Cory's family and Lea Michele. I can't imagine what they must be going through. One another, but related concept, I wrote a story called 'I Miss You' that you should check out. I originally intended it to be a one shot but then saw where at least one person put it on story alert. I was just wondering if you guys wanted me to expand on it?**

**Also I've cross posted it, 'Whose the Father', and 'The Broadway Geek, the Badass and the HBIC' to my LJ(Gritsgirl24).**

**Since I forgot when I originally posted chapter 1... Disclaimer: I do NOT own Glee.**

Glee club the following day...

Rachel POV:

I came to school today feeling a lot lighter because now 3 more people who are important to my life know about Manny. Yes, they did find out by mistake just like Noah and Arin did but that doesn't change the fact that they know and that they support me. And they were just being nice by coming over to the house to check on me so I wasn't really upset; well besides having to relive how Manny was conceived, but that always makes me upset.

Anyways I came to school and didn't worry about Manny because I knew that Daddy would take good care of him while I was here and I didn't think that I would have to worry about him being called into work. Little did I know I was wrong... Halfway through practice Manny comes walking in with Daddy behind him. "Sorry to interrupt practice but for once I got called into work star. One of the other doctors had to leave early because his wife went into labor early so I have to go finish his shift so I'll be home late tonight. Amelia is still with her mom, Deborah's at work already, Dad has appointments all day(see Dad is a psychiatrist) and Miss Baker is out and I don't know when she'll back. I didn't know what else to do." Daddy explained quickly and sounded sincerely sorry. "It's fine Daddy. I can't ask you not to go to work or Dad to cancel the rest of his appointments. Plus Manny is my responsibility after all." Rachel answered him. "Ok since I'll be home late I probably won't see you until tomorrow star. I still feel bad that this happened though." Daddy said before quickly leaving so he could get to work.

"Momma you and Daddy Noah sing for me?" Manny asked after running over to Noah and climbing onto his lap the minute Daddy had left. "Rae did he just call me Daddy? And we sure will bud." Noah said. "Yes Noah he did. You should know by now that that's how he see's you. You've been in his life since he before he could walk. You've been in his life practically the entire time we've been dating and I know that you've said you want to spend the rest of your life with me so I don't see how this is a problem." I responded while Manny looked excited that he would get to see his Daddy and Momma perform. "It's not a problem baby I'm just shocked and happy that he thinks that about me. This is the first time he's called me that so I was surprised by it." Noah told me while carefully leaning over to press a kiss to my forehead.

"Ok I'm confused. Rach he called you his mom and he called Puck his dad but considering that conversation y'all just had it doesn't seem like Puck's his birth dad. And why don't Matt, Mike and Sam look confused like everyone else?" Finn questioned. "Ok guys I don't want to explain this here and now so let's finish practice then you all can come over to my house at about 5. Noah has to pick up Arin from school and I can cook us all some dinner to eat. But to give a short answer he is son; his name is Emmanuel Berry, but we call him Manny. Noah is not his biological dad but he's been in his life for so long and acts like Manny's and thinks of Manny as his so it's only logical that Manny would call him daddy. And Matt, Mike and Sam found out last night. They came over to check on me last night and Manny answered the door with me." I responded. "I guess that works. But how're we gonna practice with him here?" Finn asked. "Oh Manny will be more than happy to sit and watch and listen to us practice. He loves it when me and/pr Noah sing or perform for him." I informed them.

With that practice resumed but I couldn't fully concentrate because I could feel everyone's curious gaze switching between Noah, Manny and myself. Even Mr. Schue couldn't seem to contain his curiosity, so I figured one of two things would happen; one he would ask me and Noah to stay after practice and explain, the most likely option, OR he would show up at my house with everyone else later on. Considering no one could really pay attention and we were still deciding on our set list for both sectionals and the invitational anyway we ended practice at 3:30 instead of 4:30 like normal. As soon as practice was over everyone left in a hurry but sense we had Manny Noah and I stayed behind; I was sitting at the piano and began to once again absentmindedly play 'You Are My Sunshine', it was kind of something that calmed me down and it was Manny's favorite song, while Manny sat beside me and Noah began to play along on his guitar and then joined me on chorus parts. After we were done Manny and Mr. Schue clapped for us and Mr. Schue asked if he could talk to us for a little bit before we leave. I agreed while Noah simply nodded his consent.

I picked Manny up and balanced him on my hip while Noah put away his guitar and grabbed our bags before we followed Mr. Schue into his office. "What'd ya wanna talk to us about Schue? We do kinda gotta make it fast though. I gotta go get my sis and Rach told the club she'd cook for 'em when they come over later." Noah responded being honest yet respectful. "Ok basically I have the same question that most of the club seemed to have. I obviously know that Rachel is Manny's mom and he see's you as his dad even though you aren't his biological dad. So I just want to know how all this happened. And given that he looks between 2 and 3 years old I'm guessing she was pregnant at least some of freshman year so I'm wondering how no one knew she was pregnant and why isn't his biological dad around?" Mr. Schue said before adding "Oh, and I don't really feel comfortable going to my student's houses unless I absolutely have to plus I think this could be a good bonding experience for the club and I don't want to interrupt that." "Ok. I'll give you the quickest possible version. I don't really like for Manny to hear about this because it not's a happy story but I can't have Noah take care of him outside the room because I need Noah here to lend moral support to me." I said after taking a deep breathe.

I sat down in one of the chairs in front of Mr. Schue's desk and moved Manny onto my lap where I pressed his head to my chest gently so that his ears were covered by my body and my hand so he wouldn't have to hear about the evil that existed in world. Noah sat down in the other chair and wrapped his arm loosely around my shoulders the back of my chair. Then I started to explain...

" April of my 8th grade year I was at this coffee shop in Columbus, we were visiting my Bubbe and Zadie for Passover, just studying while I waiting on Dad and Daddy to finish their shopping in the mall across the street, when this guy walked up to me. I met this guy name Joseph McIntire who seemed really sweet but he ended up rr-ra-raping me. After Joseph just walked away and acted like nothing was wrong. I was so distraught that I called my dads'. They came and found me in a complete mess and on the verge of a panic attack. They took me to the ER in Mount Carmel East Hospital, where Noah's mom was my nurse. The day of 8th grade graduation I found out that I was pregnant and couldn't bring myself to have an abortion and adoption was never an option either considering my own history with not knowing my mom. When I found out I was pregnant I was already 2 months pregnant so when school started back in August I was almost 5 months pregnant. Manny was born early, on December 27th, but he wasn't due until January 5th. The only people I had with me in the birthing room were Daddy, the doctor, Noah's mom and my nurses. I wanted Noah's mom to be one of my nurses but she was off for a few days vacation at the time I went into labor in the middle of night on December 26th but I called her anyway and she came to be with me while I gave birth. Noah didn't have any idea about Manny, his mom never told him because of a confidentiality thing between patients and medical personnel. I know Joseph's name now but at the time the only thing I knew was his last name and that's only because it was on his jacket. I didn't find out his first name until later on.

When Manny was 8 days old we were back in Columbus for his brit milah, or bris, which is the ceremony in which Jewish baby boys are circumcised. After the ceremony my dads' took Manny back to Zadie and Bubbe's while I went to the music store to check out some sheet music and stuff and I meet Jesse St. James there. I never meant to date him but he was so charismatic and charming that by the time Manny was about 2 weeks old he'd convinced me to give us a chance so we started dating.

Jesse never knew about Manny because we only dated for maybe a month and I spent most of that time here while Jesse spent most of it in Columbus but we did go on a few dates. But that's not the point it was during one of our dates that Jesse inadvertently revealed that he knew my rapist and he even mentioned him by name. I broke up with him immediately after he revealed that piece of information and then had my dad's change and unlist our home number effective immediately, and change my cell phone number. Seeing as Jesse only ever contacted me on my cell phone and the few dates we did go on were in Columbus and I would take a train there and Jesse would pick me up from the train station he didn't know where we lived but I didn't want to take any chances. When I say we only dated for a few weeks that's really how few dates we went on but really we were together until Manny was about 3 months old. Noah and I started dating when Manny was 6 months old but even then he still didn't know about Manny. 2 months into dating him we were supposed to hang out one day but Manny was sick and my dad's both had to work and it was the weekend so Manny doesn't have a baby sitter then since I don't have school; anyway I canceled on Noah telling him that I had too much to do at home to be able to hang out. My dads' mom, my Savta, had come by to bring me some food and to check on her great grandson and she just happened to be leaving as Noah and Arin were walking in. See Noah had decided to surprise and his mom had been called in to work so he was watching Arin for her but anyway Savta knew who Noah was but she didn't know that he didn't know about Manny so she let him in. When Noah couldn't find me downstairs and he came upstairs and found me in Manny's nursery. He knocked on the door to let me know he was there and I turned around with Manny in my arms. He was surprised of course but he helped me get Manny to sleep and heat up the food that Savta had left me before I told him the entire story. He wasn't thrilled that I'd been keeping Manny a secret but he also understood that considering I had an 8 month old son as a sophomore in high school that I wanted to protect both myself and my son from rumors. He knew I was looking out for my son by not letting him get attached to the guy I was dating if I wasn't sure that it was going to last, I didn't want my son to be a dirty little secret or anything." I explained.

Surprisingly I kept myself calm throughout most of the quick story but I think that was mostly due to me giving only the basic story and leaving out the details. Noah was rubbing my back gently while he peppered kisses over my hair and forehead once I finished and I remove my hand from Manny's ear and start to caress his hair and place a kiss to the top of his head. Mr. Schue is speechless at first because I'm sure he wasn't expecting that, he also still has some questions, but also I can tell from the look on his face that he's seeing us as a family right now, no matter how it was created.

I give him a minute to see if he'll say anything before saying, "As for how no one at school found out I was pregnant... well I didn't get very big so I just hid it behind baddy clothes and I became pretty good at simply being invisible. At the time I didn't really have many friends because I didn't meet Matt, Mike, Sam, or even Finn until second semester after I'd already given birth. I mean I've known Noah my whole life but we weren't exactly close back then and we didn't have any classes together so he didn't really notice me since our schedules kept us on opposite sides of the school most of time. About the same time I met Matt, Mike, Sam and Finn is when Noah and I reconnected as friends and then slowly worked on building up to being able to date about 5 or 6 months later." I explained what was probably the second most important thing that Mr. Schue wanted to know. At this point I'd explained most of what he wanted to know and he could tell that I was getting uncomfortable so he just let the rest of his questions go. After all if he really needed to know he could find out later or I would volunteer the information on my own time. "Wow. Rachel I had no idea. I don't know how you dealt with all that. I'm glad you had support but now you'll have mine as well and seems like now that Matt, Mike, and Sam know that they're supporting you as well. Plus I'm sure that the rest of the club will support you as well Rachel, we are a team after all. Also if you ever need to bring Manny to practice with you ever again you're more than welcome to. If it makes you feel any better I can ask Miss Pillsbury to be available to help look after him if that does happen and you'd just have to let me know as soon as possible so I could let her know she's needed." Mr. Schue told me. "Thank you Mr. Schue but as long as Noah and/or myself is in the room Manny is fine. He can entertain himself and stay out of our way he just needs one or both of us to feel safe, he's never really been apart from either of us, especially me." I told him before asking "Hey Mr. Schue if you don't mind we kind of have to leave now. I mean Noah has to get his sister and I need to cook soo..." I trailed off at the end with a questioning look on my face. "Of course Rachel. You three go ahead. I'll see you both next week." Mr. Schue responded.

With that I stood up and balanced Manny back on my hip as Noah once again grabbed our things before once again wrapping an arm around my shoulders and leading me out to my car. As Noah put our things into the trunk I buckled Manny into his booster seat. Noah got into the drivers seat while I sat in the passengers seat. Once they were settled in I put in one of the CD's I kept in the car for Manny, this one happened to be a bunch of kiddy songs and Noah gently took hold of my hand before driving off to Arin's school. The drive to pick up Arin was mostly quite except for the sound of Manny's CD and me occasionally humming along quietly, but, it wasn't uncomfortable to Noah and me and Manny was happy to listen to his music.

Once they reached Arin's school Noah got out to keep his eye out for Arin and I turned around to check on Manny only to find that he'd fallen asleep. When I turned back around it was to see Arin running full speed towards the car much to mine and Noah's amusement. Arin completely by passed her brother to open my door and suffocate me with a huge bear hug that lasted for about 5 minutes and just completely changed the mood I was in. After the hug Arin threw her book bag into the trunk of my car and then got in. Arin was sitting behind me and Manny's booster seat was behind Noah; see usually Noah drove us around so Manny being behind him made it easier for me to check on him and IF for some reason I had to drive my car without Noah I just moved Manny's booster seat over so that it was behind the passenger seat. Anyway Arin got in the car and then Noah drove off again but this time he headed for the grocery store that was near my house because he knew I would want to get some things for dinner and he wanted to get a surprise for me. Noah takes a still sleeping Manny with him and heads towards the flowers and the bakery while I head in the opposite direction with Arin. The first thing I do is pick up a variety of fruit for a fruit salad and I make sure to grab extra apples so I can make some applesauce for Manny. Next I head over to get some shrimp, chicken and things to make homemade noodles and homemade alfredo sauce. Normally I'd also go get bread but Arin insisted that she get it so I told her exactly what kind and how many rolls to get. Lastly I got some things to make cherry cobbler for desert and of course if you have cobbler you have to have ice cream to go with it so I get some a couple cartons of Breyer's Vanilla Bean and then meet Arin at the checkout counter. Noah had already gotten what he wanted and taken it and a Still Manny out to my car. I checked out quickly and then carried the bags, with Arin's help of course, out to the car.

After that it only took us about five minutes to get to my house where Noah immediately headed inside with Manny, his surprise and our stuff. Again Arin helped me bring in the bags of stuff for dinner and after unpacking everything I immediately began cooking. First I started with Manny's applesauce, as it would take the longest, since it had to cook in a crockpot. Next I prepared the fruit salad and put it into the fridge to chill and then she started on the cherry cobbler as it had to be cooked and then have time to cool off some. As soon as I had it in the oven she told Arin to pre-heat the other oven(the kitchen had a double oven so the bread and cobbler could cook at the same time) for the bread and then gave her the recipe to make the dough for the noodles while I started on the alfredo sauce. I also had Arin devein the shrimp and cut up the chicken while I had been working on the cobbler so I started to cook them once the cobbler was in the oven. Finally I put the rolls into the oven and then started cooking the noodles while having Arin keep an eye on the cobbler and I kept my eyes on the sauce and the applesauce. Once the noodles were done cooking the alfredo sauce, the chicken and the shrimp were done as well. The rolls were ready shortly after that followed by the cobbler and lastly the applesauce was done. I put everything into bowls and set up a bar so that everyone could fix their own plate, I just didn't put the fruit salad out quit yet ad not everyone was there. And the cobbler was cooling off on the stove. See while I was finishing up Santana, Quinn, Brittany, Matt, Mike, Sam, and Finn had arrived. Since dinner wasn't completely ready yet the guys joined Noah and a now awake Manny in the den to watch some Sports Center while the girls stayed in the kitchen with me while I finished dinner, set out plates, silverware and cups and cleaned up the mess I had made while cooking. Finally about 30 minutes after the first group had arrived, early but that doesn't really matter, Artie, Tina, and unfortunately Kurt and Mercedes had arrived and the food was ready to eat. I pulled out tea, coke, sprite, along with white grape juice(for Manny mostly but Arin also enjoyed it) and everyone fixed their drinks before fixing their plates. I of course fixed Manny's plate along with my own. I fixed him a small portion of applesauce, one roll and small portion of chicken alfredo. After placing down Manny's juice and his plate of food I returned for my own. I had tea, a fairly decent amount fruit salad, 2 rolls, and a medium amount of shrimp alfredo.

After everyone was sitting down and had enjoyed their food for a few minutes the first conversations started. "Rach this is really good. I had no clue you could cook like this? This pasta and the sauce taste like you made them instead of just cooking the noodles and heating up the sauce." Finn complemented and everyone nodded their agreement ever Kurt and Mercedes even if they were reluctant to admit it. "Aww thanks Finn. That's so sweet. It's just an old family recipe and I've been cooking since I was 14 because I couldn't live on takeout any longer and my Savta and Bubbe both have been teaching since then. I don't think it was that hard to cook but guess after 3 years of cooking I find things a lot easier than someone who has little or no experience." Rachel responded bashfully but sincerely. Different versions of you're welcome were chorused around the table. After that Noah said, "Rae's the one who actually cooks most of the time, occasionally I will so she can have a break or to surprise her but if dinner is left up to her dads' it'll either be a frozen meal that can be heated up or takeout, which neither of us is opposed to but Rach is adamant that Manny not be brought up on takeout the way we both were. I mean ma knows how to cook and is a great cook at that but growing up she was usually to busy or too tired to cook most nights so we just ate frozen TV dinners, frozen pizza or takeout mosta the time. Rach cooking pretty much all the time is another reason why I always pick Arin up from school and bring her over here now." Noah said before giving Rachel's shoulder a gentle squeeze and then leaning over to leave a sweet yet lingering kiss to her forehead. After that the conversation flowed and it was light considering no one wanted to bring up why they were there in front of Manny and between the 8 members who actually cared about Puck and Rachel they kept Mercedes and Kurt in line.

After dinner Rachel gave Manny a bath and put him to bed while Noah and everyone else helped to clean up their dishes and put away the few leftovers. Finally Rachel dished up the cherry cobbler and ice cream and Arin took hers upstairs to do her homework in Rachel's room while Rachel and Noah talked to their glee club friends.

"Ok so obviously you know I have a son and you probably noticed that I introduced him as having my last name. That plus the fact that Noah and I didn't start dating until Manny was already 6 months old means that Manny isn't his. So your probably wondering whose Manny's dad and why I was pregnant my freshman year of high school." Rachel started out much, if not exactly the same way she'd begun to explain to Matt, Mike and Sam the night before. "Yeah. I mean we didn't really want to ask, but, why does Manny have you're last name. I mean we get that Manny's not Puck's but why doesn't he at least have his dad's last name, if you don't mind us asking?" Tina asked the question everyone was thinking. "I'll explain everything but please don't interrupt me. I already told Mr. Schue the quick version after glee today and it's hard for me to tell people what happened." Rachel answered before truly diving into explaining how Manny was conceived and how Noah came to know about him and be a dad to him. Once she was done everyone was quite as they absorbed what they were just told. The first to speak are of course Mercedes and Kurt. "Wow what a slut. I bet you begged him for it. Then to keep the poor guy from his little boy. Rachel you really are a loser but now you're also a teenage mom whose ruining not only you're life, but also the life of Puck, that Joseph guy and your son. No wonder no one likes you." Mercedes scoffed while Kurt added, "You give a bad name to divas everywhere. And how can you even expect to go to college much less even have a chance at Broadway with a kid?". Rachel was in tears again after they're insults and none of the others were going to have that. "BEYONCE, ARTHEA WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT SAYING STUFF LIKE THAT ABOUT MY GIRL?" Noah thundered from beside Rachel causing her to flinch in fright. Once he realized this he turned his attention back to me "I'm sorry I scared you baby. I'm just fucking pissed that they even came over and then for them to insult you and cause you to cry. That shit just don't fly." Noah quietly whispered to me before turning to Tina. "Hey, Tina can you and Britt take care of Rae for me? I known for damn sure that San won't do it because she's been waiting to tear into these two since day one and Quinn too and well the guys are just as fucking livid as I am so you two are the only ones who'll be calm enough to calm her down." he asked her and Brittany at the same time. Tina and Brittan wrap me up in a hug and lead towards the kitchen to get some water and more cherry cobbler while I listen to the now softened sounds of my boyfriend, my brothers, my best friend Finn, Artie and two unexpected friends Santana and Quinn tear into Mercedes and Kurt. I realize that I at least have the support of everyone who matters; Kurt and Mercedes have always been jealous of me anyway because I can sing anything they can but better and now everyone seems to like me better than them. They always liked to say that at least they had friends when I would beat them out for a solo but now not even that argument holds. Finally I'm tired of the sounds of everyone fighting so I march in and proceed to kick Kurt and Mercedes out.

After kicking out the two self proclaimed divas I sink back down onto the couch between Noah and Matt. I cling onto Noah to try and keep my composure and Matt gently rubs my back as Noah is holding me to him, rubbing my arm, and peppering kisses to my hair. Finally Brittany seats down on the coffee table, and put her hands on my knee's saying, "They're just stupid poodles.". I couldn't help but to look at her with confused ask "what?". "You know because poodles are snobs just like Mercedes and Kurt are.". I couldn't help but to laugh and be in a better mood after that. "Thanks Britt that definitely made me feel better." I acknowledged before saying, "Ok now that we're rid of Mercedes and Kurt do you guys have any questions?" "You don't have to answer our questions Rach. I hate that you're so upset already and I don't want to make you more so because we're asking you questions." Finn says. "Thanks Finn. But I'd rather answer any questions you guys have now rather than later on." I respond with a weak smile. "Ok well I guess the most obvious one is how did no one figure out you were pregnant? How did you not show?" Finn asked. "Easy I didn't get very big so I could hide it with baggy clothes plus I was good at being invisible. Also even though I've known Noah my entire life he and I weren't close at the time and our schedules kept us on opposite ends of school and I didn't meet you, Matt, Mike, or Sam until second semester after I'd already given birth. Second semester was also when Noah and I became close again which eventually led to us dating." Rachel explained.

"Wow. So you basically went through that all by yourself. I mean at school you had no one to support you. And only 3 people including your dads' knew besides of course the doctor and your therapist? How did you deal with that. I mean I know you didn't and don't want people to treat you differently because I would feel the same way but having people who support you is a major part of being able to get through something like that." Santana commented. "I mean I know that because my mom counsels girls and women who are pregnant from having been raped and also women and girls who have raped. She feels like she can offer a unique insight because she's been there. Well I mean she's been raped but that's not the point after what being raped at a party her senior year of high school mom decided to become a counselor for victims such as herself and those who end up pregnant from rape." Santana explained. "Yeah it was hard to make it through school but I knew that I was doing what was best for both me and my child because not only was I attempting to live life normally which ultimately helps to get over the attack but also I was getting an education so I can provide the best possible life for my child instead of being a high school dropout who works for minimum wage, is living on food stamps and never gets to see their child." I stated. "You're a good mom Rach. I mean I know we haven't seen you around Manny much but from what we have seen and how much he obviously loves you I can tell that you're a good mom." Quinn said and everyone else nodded in agreement sending me smiles of encouragement at the same time. "Thank you so much you guys. You have no idea how much it means to hear that you think that. Most people just assume that because I'm a teen mom that I'm a horrible mom." I responded.

After that the conversation of sort of fizzled out so the guys decided to finish up the game they were playing before dinner while the girls wanted to see Manny's room and just gossip, you know girl stuff. So before I headed upstairs with the girls I gave Noah a kiss and asked that he and guys stay quite since Manny was asleep. The girls and I headed upstairs while Noah pulled the x-box 360 back out and turned on the game plus our various controllers that just so happened to be one for each of the 6 guys. We stopped in Manny's room first so I could check on him and the girls could see Manny's room.

The girls absolutely loved Manny's room. When he was a baby I made his nursery so that it could later be converted into the room it is right now. It was simple really all I had to do was change his crib for a bed, his changing table to another dresser because he would need more room for his clothes since he is a growing boy after all. Lastly I switched the rocking chair our for a comfy chair Manny could sit in by himself and added in shelves and storage for all of Manny's toys that he could reach but also were child safe.

Next we moved into my room where we all sat around and just gossiped for a couple of hours because no one really wanted to watch a movie and since I had to keep my eye on Manny we couldn't exactly play any games so we just listened to some music, quietly while we gossiped. We decided to listen to boy bands both from the 90's and those hotties from Big Time Rush and the amazing music from One Direction and The Wanted. Give us a break we are girls we can swoon over guys we know we have no chance with, and wouldn't want them anyway when the New Directions guys are so sweet anyway. Most of us had boyfriends so we decided to catch up on how our relationships were going. Quinn and Sam had just told each other they loved each other for the first time even though they've been dating for almost as long as me and Noah have; Tina and Mike were headed down the road to Tina giving Mike her virginity; Brittany and Artie were taking things slowly since both had been hurt by relationships in the past; Santana and Matt were moving from their happy lovey-dovey honeymoon phase into a more serious long term type of relationship; while Noah and myself were of course doing wonderfully, especially given my past, he let me lead when we were making out but recently I'd been a bit more adventurous allowing him let his hands roam a bit more and I was getting comfortable wearing less clothes around him although we were far from being in our underwear together, much less naked or making love to each other but progress was progress. I trusted Noah with my life so I knew that one day I could trust him to show me that not all guys are like Joseph but that takes a long time to get there especially after my Jesse detour before finding love with Noah. All the girls seemed surprised over my room because they had always thought it would be like pink and covered in Broadway memorabilia and contain all these stuffed animals and stars and things like that but while I love Broadway and the color pink my room wasn't decorated how they thought. I had playbills on walls but only of the Broadway plays and musicals that I've seen and only my favorites such as 13 and West Side Story and Wicked and of course the playbills were signed by the cast members. I had signature from Ariana Grande and Liz Gilles who were both part of the original Broadway production of 13 and Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel from their production of Wicked. But aside from that and a star on my door with my name under it, like a Broadway stars dressing room, my room was free of the gold star Broadway obsessed girl that so many people at McKinley saw me as. In fact I'm kind of a country girl at heart so my room was mostly decorated to reflect that, I even have an acoustic guitar sitting by my bed. Noah gave it to me as gift for my birthday last year and he's been teaching me how to play it just like I'm teaching him how to play the piano.

The girls and I got tired of talking and listening to music after about 2 hours so we headed back downstairs to see how our guys were doing. We walked into an intense but still relatively quite game of Modern Warfare 3; they were playing as a team but poor Finn could barely stay alive and Sam was barely any better but Noah and Matt were in their words "fucking God's at MWIII" while Artie and Mike seemed to be fairly decent they couldn't keep up with Matt and Noah. We all sat down on our respective boyfriends lap with the exception of Brittany who sat in the chair beside Artie and placed her feet in his lap so he could still see to play the game. We stayed that way for about another hour before the group started dwindling. The first to leave were Finn, Artie and Tina who had all riden togehter since Artie lives across the street from Finn and Tina is around the block from Artie. Next were Matt, Mike and Sam who all live in the same neighborhood that's just a few streets over from my house but Sam had to keep an eye on Stacy and Stevie, his little brother and sister, while both his parent's worked night shifts. Last to go were Santana and Quinn who lived also lived in the same neighborhood but they lived the farthest from everyone so really Noah and I were surprised at how long they'd stayed. Once everyone besides Noah was gone we began to clean up the slight mess left behind by our friends before heading up to my room to sleep.

It was hardly ever that Noah slept over since he had to be available for Arin whenever his mom needed but since Arin was with him she was sleeping in one of the guest rooms. Anyway since Dad and Daddy wouldn't be home until at least tomorrow morning Noah stayed with me and Manny because I couldn't stay home with only Manny and our Labrador puppy, Chance. Noah never complained when I got needy or clingy like I tended to do when I was scared, especially scared of being alone, he would just sit or lie with me and help me calm down until I could breathe normally or fall asleep or whatever the reason I was freaking out over was settled. When I couldn't sleep for fear, kind of like tonight he'd lie with me in bed while soft jazz music played in the background if my lamp was turned off he'd turn it on to provide some light and he'd whisper comforting things in my ear while he simply held me until I calmed down and fell asleep and then he'd turn the lamp off and fall asleep himself.

**AN 2: So sorry this update took so long but I just couldn't seem to get the ending right. I worked for like 3 or 4 days on the last page and half to page and 3/4(on MS word) which is the last 7 paragraphs just didn't seem to come to me as easily as the rest of this update. **

**AN3: So for next time I'm thinking Manny will wake up sick so Rachel doesn't go to school until lunch so Noah's mom, Deborah, can watch him after she gets off work. And the JBI will out Rachel's secret to the school but she won't know until she gets there and hears all the slurs people are saying about her and Manny and how people think she trapped Noah into a relationship so her "bastard" child will have a father. What do you guys think. Also should I make Kurt and Mercedes more likeable. Finn will have an OC as his girlfriend eventually but I don't know that I will write Mercedes or Kurt as dating anyone because I typically prefer writing about Matt and Mercedes dating but I couldn't have them dating in this story because of how Mercedes started out treating Rachel and Matt being like a brother to Rachel, it just wouldn't work out.**

**AN4: Last one for this update, I promise. I added a poll to my profile so please answer that. I don't know when it'll close because I'll start writing the story after I close the poll but with this plus 2, maybe 3 other stories in the works at the moment I have my hands full. Also my story 'I Miss You' was originally intended as a one shot but since some people seem interested in me continuing it I want to ask you guys your opinion on that. Lastly in my profile I've listed what Manny's room, Rachel's room and Manny himself all look like. So copy and past the links into your browser to check them out. **

**And as always please read and review. If you don't feel comfortable leaving some of the things I asked for in AN4 then please PM them to me. And please no flames.**


	4. The School Finds Out and Manny is sick

**AN: Just letting you guys know that due to a rather condescending guest review to my story "The Broadway Geek, the Badass, and the HBIC" that I will now moderate my guest reviews. I don't mind getting constructive criticism and ideas from you guys but this review was literally questioning my sanity and I don't want that to happen as I am proud of everything that write and am in no way insane as this reviewer seemed to be implying. It's a few who ruin it for everyone. I will NOT be taking down any stories because I don't believe in that but seeing as several people have done things that I don't appreciate in reviews I am enforcing the little bit of dignity given to the writer by FF so guest reviews will be looked at from now on.**

When I woke up the next morning I wondered why briefly why I was waking up at 6 am, I stopped doing my elliptical workout in the morning when I was pregnant and after Manny was born I continued to sleep the extra 30 minutes I had without the morning workout, and if I showered the night before I got an extra hour of sleep. Anyway I haven't woken up at 6 am in 3 and half years and it wasn't a welcome thing to happen especially when I discovered a moment later it was because my baby boy had an upset stomach and a fever, nothing major but enough to make him feel bad. I pulled my trashcan to the side of the bed and then scooted closer to Noah, as close as I could get, and let Manny lay in front of me facing the trashcan in case he had to vomit or anything. I started to gently rub Manny's stomach and brushed the hair out of his face leaving a gentle kiss on his forehead; I hated when he got sick mostly because there's only so much I can do for him without taking him to the doctor and not only can I not afford to take him to the doctor every time he feels bad but most of the time he only gets things like a mild cold or the stomach bugs that go around the schools so going to the doctor wouldn't help anyway. We just lay there together like that, while Noah slept peacefully beside me for another hour before my alarm for school went off startling Manny out of his almost sleep, causing him to start crying again since he felt his tummy ache again in the wide awake state, and waking Noah up as well in the process. I'd already resigned myself to skipping part of the day to take care of my little man since both of my dads' would have to be at work today, Deborah had a morning shift and Amelia was still with her mom and would be until tomorrow. Anyway Noah immediately noticed what was going on and offered to stay with me and Manny and then drive me to school later once his mom got off and could watch Manny and I was ready to accept his offer except that I knew he really couldn't afford to miss anymore class work in US History, which he had first period and if he left school grounds after that it wouldn't go unnoticed. So sadly I declined his offer wanting him to get the best education possible so he could graduate and go to college, or the police academy(he hasn't decided whether he wants to pursue music and music production or become a police officer yet), and have himself a bright future that I plan to be a part of because he and Manny are my family alongside his mom and sister and my dads.

Finally I get Noah off to school and have managed to get Manny to eat half of a piece of dry toast, to try and settle his stomach. Rachel also found some ginger ale in the pantry and put that into Manny's sippy cup and then let him lay on the couch with her and watch all the cartoons he wanted, not a normal occurrence since she didn't think TV was very stimulating and some of it's content, even on the children's channels was way too inappropriate for kids and led to bad habits on the impressionable youth. Typically Manny watched one cartoon a day during the week and Saturday mornings he was allowed to watch 2 hours of cartoons, since that's how Noah like to spend his Saturday mornings and Noah typically spent Friday nights at the Berry's house. But, being that he was sick Rachel made an exception to her normally very strict rule, but, she also made sure that Manny knew the reason he got to watch so many cartoons today was because he was sick and didn't feel like doing anything else. She'd called Deborah at about 7:30 that morning to leave her a voicemail about Manny and had received a text in reply saying that Deborah could definitely watch Manny when she got off of work. Deborah said she'd grab a quick lunch, since she got off at 11, and then head over to the Berry's house.

At about 9 am Manny got really tired so he took a nap and Rachel decided to join him since she didn't get her normal amount of sleep the night before, since at first she was having one of her freak outs over her dads not being home even though Noah was with her, and then because of Manny being sick. They both sleep until Deborah lets herself in and shakes Rachel awake at about 11:45, telling her that she brought Manny some soup and Rachel some vegetable lo mein and steamed rice from the Chinese food place across from the hospital. Rachel eats her food rather quickly and then heads out to school, not knowing what awaits her and what Noah has been experiencing so far during the day. She gets there just before lunch ends and next period starts, which just so happens to be Spanish with Noah, Finn, Matt, Mike and Sam along with Quinn and Brittany and of course Mr. Schuester so she heads to her locker and then intends to wait there for Noah to meet her, considering she texted him she was on her way before leaving the house. About five minutes after Rachel reached her locker Noah had joined her along with the rest of New Directions, well minus Kurt and Mercedes who were now on the outs of the entire group, especially after their antics at Rachel's house. As Rachel pulled out her Spanish book and notebook along with things for Glee and her other afternoon classes the others chatted lightly with her, mostly wondering either why she missed her morning classes(Santana, Artie, and Tina) or how Manny was doing(everyone else). Once Rachel had retrieved what she would need for her classes the group split up to head to their classes; Tina, Artie and Santana had AP Chemistry while the rest headed off to Honor Spanish 3(unfortunately there was no AP Spanish until you were taking Spanish 5).

It was on the way to Spanish that Rachel got her first clue that something was wrong. Several people called her a slut or a whore while giving her dirty, condescending looks. While the comments and looks hurt it was all those people managed before one of the guys or Quinn would either threaten them or give them a withering look, usually the commenter received both and not just from one member of the group. Rachel was confused about the comments as well, that is until they got to Spanish and a cheerio said something about Jacob Ben Israel's blog before saying what an abomination Manny was and how sorry she was(to Puck) that Rachel trapped him into a relationship so her bastard, abomination of a child would have a father in his life. Finally Rachel understood how people knew but she couldn't figure out Jacob knew so she pulled Jacob's blog up on her Droid Maxx and saw that the entry pertaining to her being a teenage mom consisted of mainly a video with only a few words written by Jacob and title, "Berry: McKinley's Newest and sluttiest Teenage Mom" basically JBI lamented the fact that Rachel would spread her legs for some random guy while she was still in middle school but wouldn't love him and then chose to drag down the McKinley's most badass and there for popular running back. Rachel pulled out some ear buds so the noise wouldn't disturb anyone and watched the video; she quickly realized that the video was shot from outside her living room window but that it was edited to make it seem like she was asking for Joseph to rape her and that Noah was trapped in their relationship, he loved Manny and not her but couldn't leave because of Manny. Rachel was about in tears once she finished watching the video which had Jacob's commentary in it as well, but she never cried at school because she wouldn't give the jerks and assholes at McKinley that satisfaction, and yeah maybe that made her weak and even more likely to be a victim of bullying because she wouldn't retaliate in anyway but she also knew that showing how much the bullying hurt her is exactly what they wanted and she would not and could not be seen as anymore vulnerable by her peers.

Noah was the first but not the only person to notice her phone out and change in attitude after taking the ear buds out; Matt, Sam, Mike and Finn noticed as well. But since Noah was right behind her, he noticed immediately because her back and neck went from mostly relaxed to extremely tense in a matter of minutes. Mike and Matt were on either side of Rachel while Sam and Finn were behind Matt and Mike. Quinn and Brittany who were sitting beside each other and in front of Rachel didn't notice anything. Noah immediately began to gently massage Rachel's neck which relaxed her neck and in turn her back, but the tension still remained to an extent because she knew that the longer she was at school the more people would read Jacob's blog and the more people would tease and insult her about being a teenage mother. As much as Rachel wanted to avoid the insults, the judging looks, and the teasing she knew that leaving school, especially after she was absent all morning was the wrong thing to do and she didn't want to skip class either since she already had to make up work for her morning classes. Basically she was stuck between a rock and hard place; get a good education while enduring the taunts and prejudices of her classmates OR be the teen mom who is a high school drop out, on government assistance and barely see's her kid for having to work so much at the minimum wage she has just to make ends meet. Really her choice was simple, yet painful given Jacob's blog entry and having to miss so much of Manny's life but at the same time the amount of time Rachel missed for school is minimal compared to what she would most likely miss if she were a high school dropout who worked at a minimum wage job constantly just to make ends meet. See she had a deal with her dads that as long as she graduated high school and attended a 4 year university at least part time until she got her undergraduate degree that they would support her and pay for the bulk of Manny's expenses but the moment she failed her end of the deal she was on her own as far as supporting Manny financially went. Even if they still had a place to live buying clothes and food and paying doctors bills for both of them would be too much for Rachel not to mention day care and paying for part of the cable bill and her car and health insurance and cell phone AND if her dads' kicked her out then she would have to worry about paying rent on top of everything else, plus, Manny would have to stop go to a public day care versus having a private baby sitter, as much as Rachel and Manny love Amelia she would too expensive to keep if Rachel had to pay her entire salary.

Finn, being her best friend and all, was the second to notice but from his seat he couldn't really do anything, which he hated because he hated to feel useless just as much as he hated to see Rachel hurting. Sam noticed seconds after Finn and then Mike and Matt noticed after Sam and again because of where they sitting there was nothing they could do to comfort the girl they saw as a sister. And like Finn they hated feeling useless especially when it came to helping Rachel. All 4 guys were about to stand up and go comfort Rachel but then Mr. Schuester walked in, late, from his own lunch so they were stuck in their seats worrying about their sister, in Finn's case best friend, and able to do nothing but try to pay attention to the lesson of the day. It harder than they thought to pay attention but luckily for them the lesson was mostly a review for their upcoming test and Rachel was a wiz at Spanish so she could help them if need be. Finally about and hour and 20 minutes later(yeah Schue was 10 minutes late to class and if it were anywhere but McKinley they could've had a free period after 5 minutes of no teacher, not McKinley though you had to wait 15 minutes and they usually found someone to cover the class) class ended.

Rachel's last class of the day was AP English which she had with Quinn, Santana, Mike and Matt. Noah and Finn were in Honor English because they had to keep at least a 3.0 GPA to stay on the football(both), basketball(Finn), and baseball(Noah) teams and neither was exceptionally good at English so they didn't take AP in order to keep themselves eligible to play. Noah walked with Rachel to her class because he had English at the same and his classroom was two doors down from Rachel's so he could walk her to class and still be on time for his, which Rachel liked because she felt safer walking through McKinley's hallways with Noah but she hated when he was late to class. In English they were currently going over their summer reading project on _The Scarlet Letter_, which was a horrible book to read in Rachel's opinion, she completely understood what it was about and discuss it with Nathaniel Hawthorne himself if she needed to but the sentences in the book were like a paragraph long each to say things like the community shunned Hester Prynne for committing adultery on her husband and having a child out of wedlock; seriously even Rachel understood the importance of saying one thing in less than 50 words so why couldn't Hawthorne. They spent about half the class discussing the book and their projects while the other half of class was spent watching the movie version of the book, Mr. Page(their teacher) only let them watch the movie so that they could have a broader range of knowledge when it came to the book, especially since the book was written in old English on top of having the paragraph long sentences, and sometimes seeing things acted out helped a person to understand what's going on better than reading about it.

English was worse than Spanish because people would send glares and insults at Rachel all the while seeming to be talking about Hester and her sins. As much as Rachel loved Mr. Page, he was one of the few teachers that actually cared about his students and he rarely showed favoritism(like most of the teachers who cared about the students), he couldn't say anything to the students who were harassing her because they were smart enough to keep the context completely about _The Scarlet Letter_, he could reprimand them if they used profanities or lewd language but otherwise he was powerless and Rachel could see in his eyes how sorry he was. While he knew that they were ultimately insulting Rachel if he tried to punish them for it, it would just turn into a case of he said, she said and with the majority of the class making the comments he was smart enough to not put Rachel through that because ultimately the majority would band together and win the argument of what actually happened even if he went to bat for Rachel along with Mike, Matt, Quinn and Santana that would still only be 5 students a teacher against 15 other students and the school board was notorious for doing what would cause the least drama meaning they sided with the majority because no matter how much Rachel protested and threatened them, with good reason too, it was still less drama than 15 students each doing the same thing, the backlash from 15 students doing something like that would draw attention from both the local and state news stations if not draw the attention of the national news stations. To put it simply Mr. Page felt extremely guilty for doing nothing but his hands were tied at least figuratively speaking, because he wanted the best for Rachel and as bad as it sounded doing nothing was for the best.

Given the situation after class Mr. Page asked for Rachel, Mike, Matt, Quinn, and Santana to stay behind to talk to him. He made sure he smiled reassuringly at Rachel when he made the request so she knew it wasn't about her being in trouble or anything. He then explained to her why he didn't and couldn't say anything and why it really was in her best interest. Rachel while hurt by the actions of her classmates was actually quite touched that Mr. Page actually cared enough to think through what would be in her best interest instead of trying and failing to serve justice to help her out. She in turn gave him the simple explanation of how she came to be in situation of standing with him, her brothers, and 2 cheerios who had only recently become her friends listening to him explain why he didn't reprimand her fellow classmates for their cleverly hidden insults in class. Mr. Page told her that since there was evidence online that he could have Jacob punished for his actions and that Rachel could sue him for invasion of privacy and trespassing on private property, which really surprised Rachel because she never really expected to get such advice and support from a teacher who wasn't Mr. Schuester and she's not sure that Mr. Schue would've given her that advice anyway he probably would've said he was there if she wanted to talk and remind her that he was there for her if she needed it and then be done with it.

Finally glee practice is there and Rachel can relax because even though Kurt and Mercedes will there she also has 10 people on her side plus Mr. Schue won't let them get too out of hand, although he could honestly do a better job of keeping them in line because whenever anyone else is insulted or belittled Mr. Schue jumps in the minute the insult starts but with Rachel he doesn't. Mr. Schue is all about them being a team and a family and being there for each other and he even told Rachel that he personally was there for her if she needed it but given his actions in the past she thought he was a bit hypocritical and wasn't completely sure that he would be there for her like he said he would be.

Glee actually wasn't that bad mainly because they spent the entire time working on their songs for Sectionals and there was no time for socializing, which really meant time for Kurt and Mercedes to insult Rachel more than they already had. Rachel's favorite part about Sectionals, as weird as it sounds, is that for once they were showing off the talents of the rest of the New Directions members. Santana had a solo and Mike and Brittany got to show off their dance skills during Santana's solo and Quinn and Sam had a duet and their voices sounded amazing together, of course they had nothing on Noah and herself but still Rachel was really proud of Sam for being able to sing lead one of their competition songs especially since he just got brave enough to sing his first solo at the end of last year, he of course sang the song to Quinn and they've been dating ever since then. Then for the group number they were singing a Journey's Don't Stop Believing with Finn, Santana, Noah and herself on lead vocals and Matt was the one who came up with the choreography for that number which also made him the lead dancer and of course Mercedes threw in some of her powerful vocals because she wouldn't be denied that but honestly it sounded good with Mercedes' added vocals, no matter how reluctant Rachel was to admit that.

They finally got done with practice and Rachel was literally exhausted, emotionally and physically, she'd never had a more complicated and trying day, at least not one she could recall. Noah of course didn't have an easy day either but he knew that his day was nothing compared to what Rachel went through, especially because Mike told him about what happened in English and he was honestly surprised that the insults and bullying went that far and were that harsh(yeah he knew the students at McKinley were assholes and class A douche bags but he also thought they had boundaries, like no bullying in classrooms, but obviously he was a fucktard to believe that). Noah decided that what Rachel needed after her day was copious amounts of her favorite vegan ice cream, a hot bath and a massage all courtesy of her loving boyfriend, so on he told her he had to pick some stuff up after getting Arin from her friends house and that he'd be over after that. He picked up some flowers and a card for Rachel at the florist before heading off to pick up the up the ice cream and some of Rachel's favorite bubble bath and matching body lotion. Ok, so maybe it made him a total pussy and completely whipped but he didn't care one bit because his girl was fucking sad and upset and this shit would cheer her up and loved her more than his badass reputation, and anyone who knows Puck knows that that's a whole fucking lot. He also makes sure to pick up some soup and shit for Manny since the little dude was sick this morning, plus Rachel would totally love that he cared enough to take care of her son while he was sick like this. Finally after getting all the surprises for Rachel Noah headed over to Evans house, Arin and Stacie were about the same age and Stevie was a little older than Arin but she was still friends with both of them although Noah liked to keep his eye on Stevie, he was 13 and starting to look and act like the teenage boy he really was(thankfully Arin didn't seem interested in him and Stevie seemed to think of her as more of a little sister, like Stacie only not related, so that was good but still you could never be too careful). Anyway Noah picked up Arin and thanked Sam for watching her while he was running errands to cheer Rachel up.

Finally Noah reached Rachel's house and scribbled out a quick but loving note to Rachel on the card before gathering everything and heading inside with Arin, he noticed his mom's car was still there but Rachel's dads' weren't home yet so he figured that was why she hadn't left when Rachel got home from practice. He walked into the kitchen to put away the ice cream and soup and found his mom but not Rachel, which was actually a relief since he wanted to surprise her and her standing in the kitchen when he walked in wasn't his idea of surprising her. He asked his mom how long she was staying and when she said she was staying for and making dinner he told her the soup was for Manny, it was Chicken and Stars, and that he though Rachel would enjoy spaghetti since that was a comfort food and school was rough for her today, and of course his mom agreed and then offered to take Arin home and let Noah stay over again, she had the next day since she'd just worked a double shift and then baby sat Manny she was tired but at the same time she wouldn't change it because she thought of Manny as her grandson and loved Rachel just as much as she loved Arin and Noah. With that conversation out of the way and Arin already doing her homework at the kitchen table Noah headed upstairs to check on Manny and Rachel; he checked on Manny first and found the little boy sleeping in his bed looking pale and utterly exhausted, from being sick, and he was snoring since apparently his nose was stopped up he had to breathe through his mouth and thus the snoring. Seeing the little boy, his little boy, like that literally broke his heart but when he went to check on Rachel his heart broke even more because she was lying on her bed literally bawling like a baby and on the verge of a panic attack. Noah simply walked over to where Rachel was laying down and settled down so that her head was facing her chest and pulled her to him so she was crying into his chest and tried to comfort her to the best of his ability. Finally Rachel's tears stopped so Noah picked the flowers and card up off the nightstand where he'd left them when he lied down next to Rachel and gave them to her along with a promise of more surprises to come.

_Rachel, baby, I know that my words may not do anything to help you but... I just want you to know that you did NOT trap me and that I DO love and I DO love Manny. Those pansy ass bitches at school don't know what the fuck their talking about ad their just jealous of our relationship and your talent. They wish they could kick ass like you do and that they had a badass boyfriend and fucking awesome dudes who totally make their pansy asses eat the words of hate that they spew at you. Baby, I fucking our family. Me, you, Manny, your dads, my mom, and Arin is our family and one day I'm going to buy you a house so that me, you and our son can live together and we can raise our kids together. _Rachel read the sweet, if slightly vulgar words that Noah had written to her in the card and started crying because he as soo sweet and he'd gotten her, her favorite flowers, babies breathe and carnations. When he told her that there were more surprises to come she really couldn't believe it, she already felt like the luckiest girl alive and like she had the best boyfriend anyone could ask for. I couldn't even fathom what else Noah had in store for me but I did know that if they were even a fraction as amazing as the flowers and the card then I would be crying for a completely different reason at the end of the night.

Noah just held me until Deborah called out for us to come downstairs. I was surprised to find that not only did I NOT have to cook BUT that Manny had his favorite soup waiting on him and Deborah had cooked my favorite comfort food, spaghetti. Next thing I know Deborah's grabbed her a plate to go along with Arin's plate to go before heading upstairs to help Manny eat his soup. Noah was just as surprised as I was, his mom was not only an avid supporter of their relationship but this time she was preparing a homemade, romantic dinner for them to share, just the two of them since she was taking Manny with her and Arin once he finished his soup and they were going home to enjoy their spaghetti and give Rachel and Noah their privacy. Their dinner was even complete with candle light and sparkling grape juice in place of wine, but really they didn't care because it was the gesture itself that mattered. Rachel would've thought Noah was behind the entire thing except his surprise was genuine and not forced.

Once they were alone Noah explained that he was behind Manny's favorite soup being in the house and the fact that his mom had made Rachel's favorite thing, spaghetti. They sat down across the table from each other and held hands, well they held hands after Noah had poured them both some sparking grape juice and served the spaghetti. They talked about Glee mainly but also about the football team and their chances at even getting into the State playoffs that year, they did have a new coach which seemed to be a positive plus Karofsky joined the team as a full back and he was actually pretty good at, especially since he was a hockey player at heart. They also talked about the possibility of Noah of joining the baseball team again that year. After dinner Noah insisted that he would clean up and for Rachel to go relax in the living room. Fifteen minutes later Noah was walking into the living room with a gallon of Rachel's favorite vegan ice cream along with a couple of spoons. He explained he bought when he picked up the flowers for her earlier that day. He further explained that he also bought her favorite scented bubble bath and the matching lotion so she could take a relaxing bubble bath and then he would give her a massage using the lotion and that while they, mostly her though, were eating the ice cream that they would watch a movie, her choice with no complaints from him. So basically he was asking her if she wanted to watch the movie first OR bubble bath and massage first and then the movie and ice cream.

Rachel decided they would watch the movie first and she picked out her go to musical for when she was upset, West Side Story. Something about West Side Story just always made her feel better, maybe it was that she always cried when watching it and the crying was cathartic OR maybe it was just the powerful message of love and what opposites Tony and Maria were yet they still loved each other more than most people would realize and Tony reminded her of Noah and she'd always had a deep, personal connection with Maria which only deepened once she and Noah started dating(he was her real-life Tony after all). Noah stayed true to his word and didn't complain about having to watch a musical and he also didn't complain that this was the like the 20th time he and Rachel had watched West Side Story together; he often complained that the story wouldn't happen in real-life but then he always talked about how badass Tony was and how fucking awesome it was Maria rebelled against the wishes of her family t be with Tony because she loved him(he was fucking tired of watching movies where the guys looked like pansy ass wimps because they were the ones who had to fight for the girl). Once the movie was over he could tell Rachel was exhausted and her eyes were all red and her cheeks all puffy from crying during the movie, it never failed to make Rachel cry after all, so he decided that Rachel should just go to bed and they'd both skip tomorrow because Manny seemed like he had more than the 24 hour bug and he figured Rachel would want to take him to the doctor and both of her dads' and his mom had to work and Rachel always liked to be the one to go to the doctor with Manny, even if he or one of her dads or Amelia went as well Rachel had to be there as well just to make sure for herself that everything was ok. Anyway he decided he would save the bubble bath and massage for tomorrow night since she could enjoy them better then plus he wasn't sure how tomorrow would go so she might be stressed at the end of the day and a bubble bath and massage would be a good way to help her relax.

As Noah cleaned up the slight mess from the movie and locked up the house for the night Rachel stayed on the couch just admiring Noah and thinking how lucky she was. When he came back in the living room after turning off all the other lights besides those going upstairs and the ones in the living room he found Rachel half laying and half sitting on the couch with her eyes barely open. He chuckled lowly in his throat because his girl was so cute and so exhausted at the moment that he couldn't stand to wake her up so she could walk upstairs so instead he picked her up bridal style and carried her up to her bedroom. Once there he gently placed her on the bed and then proceeded to pull out some thing for her to wear while sleeping. When Rachel didn't wake up he decided it would be best for him to change her himself so he first took the pajama pants and slide them on underneath the skirt she'd worn to school that day before taking the skirt off then he took off her shirt and slide her bra straps down her arms before putting one of his tee shirts that she'd taken from him on and then completely removed her bra. Lastly he made sure the lights were off out in the hall way and changed into a pair of pajama pants himself and removed his wife beater and shirt before putting all the clothes into Rachel's hamper to be washed before climbing into bed behind her and turning off the bed side lamp he'd turned on earlier.

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The next day...

Rachel woke up to an empty bed and the smell of someone cooking breakfast and the sound of the TV quietly playing Bob the Builder downstairs so she knew Manny was home and probably still feeling sick since Noah and respected the TV rule. Rachel fixed her hair before heading downstairs to find Noah making biscuits gravy for breakfast while toast was making for Manny and coffee was brewing. She also noticed the orange juice sitting out which she grabbed a glass of while she watched him finish their breakfast. While Rachel feeds Manny his toast and he sips his orange juice from his sippy cup Noah fixes her some coffee and a plate before he calls Manny's pediatrician to set up an appointment for the day.

Once done with his breakfast Manny is tired so he falls back asleep so Rachel checks his temperature again only to find that it's increased since she checked it last night. When Rachel walks back into the kitchen Noah can see the concern written all over her face and immediately informs her that he already called the pediatrician and they have an appointment in 2 hours at 10 a.m.. Rachel eats her breakfast and sips her coffee quietly after she had thanked Noah for setting up the appointment but otherwise was quiet because she was worried about her little boy and Noah understood that so he didn't bother her. Once breakfast was over Rachel went upstairs to shower and get ready while Noah cleaned up, since he would take less time to get ready. Once she was ready Rachel headed back downstairs to sit with Manny and let Noah know he could go get ready. Finally at 9:30 they were both ready and headed out to Rachel's car. Noah drove while Rachel rode in the passenger seat; it only took them about fifteen minutes to get there but Rachel always liked to be early in case they needed to fill out any special paper work, update Manny's file, or anything along those lines. They get called back to see Dr. Smith after about 20 minutes of waiting as protocol requires they ask what the problem so Rachel explains while Noah holds a still half asleep Manny on his lap. After doing some quick tests they determine that Manny has the stomach bug but it's not one of the 24 hours ones that often go around and being 2 years old he was more likely to get sick since his immune system wasn't very strong yet. He tells Rachel that since it's a virus all they can do is to treat the symptoms which while annoying is also understandable since antibiotics are out of the question. Dr. Smith also tells Rachel that since Manny is young he will bounce back quicker than if like she or the doctor himself got sick because kids have that ability even if they have a harder time keeping from being sick.

Once done at the pediatrician's Noah treated Rachel and Manny to lunch at a Rachel's dinner, well they got it to-go since Manny was sick and contagious but still it was a special treat that didn't happen very often for Manny or really even Rachel. Usually Rachel and Noah would hang out at one or the others house and eat home cooked meals and they would go out occasionally but their dates were usually to the movies or bowling, things they could do with Manny if needed to but usually at least one of the parents or Amelia could watch Manny for a few hours while they went out, especially since they normally went on once a month or less.

**AN 2: That's it for now. This took a while to write. Next time I'm not exactly sure what will happen but it will probably include Noah spoiling Rachel with the bubble bath and massage. If you guys have any ideas please PM me. I might have Jesse reappear next time as well, not sure yet.**


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